The Opeongo Line

'Back in the Day' host Martina Coulas chats with Carman Palubeski about his life growing up in Barry's Bay in mid-20th century when his parents ran a diner and later a variety store.  He also talks about his exotic travel, and his love of reading, music and dancing. And he reveals more than a few interesting stories about some of the great characters he once knew, along with the odd salty local expression. 

Back in the Day host Martina Coulas continues her wide-ranging discussion with Merita Recoskie who talks about growing up in Barry's Bay during the Second World War and pursuing a career in nursing. With an amazing power of recall, Merita vividly describes life along the main streets of her home town. 

Back in the Day host Martina Coulas has a wide-ranging discussion with Merita Recoskie who talks about growing up in Barry's Bay during the Second World War and pursuing a career in nursing. With an amazing power of recall, Merita vividly describes life along the main streets of her home town. 

The Opeongo Reader’s Theatre presents a unique collection of eye-witness accounts by young men and women who went off to the Second World War. It includes everything from two letters written by a young woman from Barry's Bay to her older brother serving overseas, to a daring escape from a POW train under cover of darkness as it hurtled through the Ottawa Valley.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents its annual Halloween show, five classic ghost stories including: Anatole France's 'The Mass of Shadows', Guy de Maupassant's 'The Flayed Hand,' Algernon Blackwood's 'A Woman's Ghost Story,' Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Masque of Red Death,' and Myla Jo Closser's 'At the Gate.' Performed by Lesley Betts, Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke.

Local historian Mark Woermke presents a fascinating look at 31 German-speaking families who emigrated to Renfrew County, Ontario between 1858 and 1900, looking closely at six particular families who settled near Rockingham and noting what happened to them after they arrived. 

Martina Coulas talks with Beth and Johnny Hilderbrandt about how they first met, Beth's first trip to Barry's Bay by train, and Johnny's early life growing up here on a farm.  Forever young, the Hildebrandts offer up great stories about hog-wrassling in the old railway stockyard, sneaking into the Exchange Hotel underaged, and helping to save the old Barry's train station.

The Opeongo Line presents Martina Coulas in conversation with two Lorbetskie women; first, Martina speaks with Julia Lorbetskie who was born nearly 101 years ago near Paugh Lake, four miles north of Barry's Bay. After she married, she moved into town where she and her husband Johnny raised six children, including their youngest daughter, Connie, who Martina speaks with and learns of her abiding joy in having the good fortune of growing up in Barry's Bay in the 1950s and 1960s. 

This second interview conducted by Martina Coulas deals with the local history of two Lorbetskie women. First, Martina spoke with Julia Lorbetskie, the nearly 101-year-old mother of her youngest daughter Connie, who in this second interview speaks about growing up in the village of Barry's Bay in the 1950s and 1960s

Lesley Betts and Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present new documentary evidence that reveals in significant detail the early life of John Samuel James Watson, Rockingham's man of mystery. An inspirational leader and founder of one of the most productive and progressive villages in Renfrew County in the latter half of the 19th century, Watson was also a man with a shocking secret that he successfully managed to hide until now.